Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Has there ever been a righteous person?Job 15:14, Isaiah 64:6, and Romans 3:10 deny anyone is righteous — all our righteousness is as filthy rags, there is none righteous, no, not one.
Does hell exist?The Bible offers four mutually incompatible afterlife schemes.
Psalms 37:27(v14)Depart from evil, and do good. Live securely forever.
1 Peter 3:12(v15)For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
1 Peter 3:11(v14)Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it.
Hebrews 12:14(v14)Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,
3 John 1:11(v14)Beloved, don’t imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God. He who does evil hasn’t seen God.
Show all 67 cross-references
Psalms 34:17(v15)The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
Psalms 33:18(v15)Behold, Yahweh’s eye is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his loving kindness,
Romans 12:9(v14)Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
Romans 12:18(v14)If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.
Job 36:7(v15)He doesn’t withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne, he sets them forever, and they are exalted.
James 3:17-18(v14)But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and…
Proverbs 3:7(v14)Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.
Romans 14:19(v14)So then, let’s follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.
Psalms 130:2(v15)Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.
James 3:5-10(v13)So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest! And the tongue is a…
Psalms 34:6(v15)This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
2 Chronicles 6:40(v15)“Now, my God, let, I beg you, your eyes be open, and let your ears be attentive, to the prayer that is made in this place.
Daniel 9:17-23(v15)“Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant, and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is…
1 Peter 3:10-12(v12)For, “He who would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from…
Psalms 141:3(v13)Set a watch, Yahweh, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips.
2 Corinthians 13:11(v14)Finally, brothers, rejoice! Be perfected. Be comforted. Be of the same mind. Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Deuteronomy 30:20(v12)to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in…
Proverbs 21:23(v13)Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.
Proverbs 10:7(v16)The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.
1 Peter 2:22(v13)who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
Deuteronomy 6:2(v12)that you might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you—you, your son, and your son’s son,…
Colossians 3:9(v13)Don’t lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings,
1 Thessalonians 4:11(v14)and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we…
James 1:19(v13)So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
James 1:26(v13)If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is…
Proverbs 13:3(v13)He who guards his mouth guards his soul. One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
Jeremiah 17:13(v16)Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be disappointed. Those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they…
Jeremiah 44:11(v16)“Therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.
Matthew 5:9(v14)Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
Titus 2:14(v14)who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for…
Psalms 39:1(v13)I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”
Romans 14:17(v14)for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
James 3:2(v13)For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body also.
Leviticus 17:10(v16)“ ‘Any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who eats any kind of blood, I will set my face…
Job 18:17(v16)His memory will perish from the earth. He will have no name in the street.
Psalms 4:6(v12)Many say, “Who will show us any good?” Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.
Psalms 91:16(v12)I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation.”
Proverbs 12:19(v13)Truth’s lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only momentary.
Proverbs 12:22(v13)Lying lips are an abomination to Yahweh, but those who do the truth are his delight.
Proverbs 18:21(v13)Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.
Ecclesiastes 3:13(v12)Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.
Matthew 12:35-37(v13)The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things. I tell you…
Job 7:7(v12)Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye will no more see good.
1 Peter 2:1(v13)Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,
Psalms 21:4(v12)He asked life of you and you gave it to him, even length of days forever and ever.
Psalms 55:11(v13)Destructive forces are within her. Threats and lies don’t depart from her streets.
Proverbs 8:13(v14)The fear of Yahweh is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
Proverbs 13:14(v14)The teaching of the wise is a spring of life, to turn from the snares of death.
Proverbs 19:9(v13)A false witness shall not be unpunished. He who utters lies shall perish.
Ecclesiastes 2:3(v12)I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might…
Ecclesiastes 12:13(v12)This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
Isaiah 37:14-21(v15)Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before…
Amos 9:4(v16)Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for…
Revelation 14:4-5(v13)These are those who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were…
Leviticus 26:17(v16)I will set my face against you, and you will be struck before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you; and you will flee when…
Job 28:28(v14)To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
Psalms 10:16(v16)Yahweh is King forever and ever! The nations will perish out of his land.
Psalms 120:7(v14)I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.
Ecclesiastes 8:10(v16)So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is…
Isaiah 63:8(v13)For he said, “Surely, they are my people, children who will not deal falsely;” so he became their Savior.
Ezekiel 14:7-8(v16)“ ‘ “For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live in Israel, who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into…
2 Timothy 2:19(v14)However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv12–1512. Who is the man who desireth life? The…
12. Who is the man who desireth life? The prophet does not inquire if there be any man so disposed, as if all men voluntarily brought upon themselves the miseries which befall them; for we know that all men without exception desire to live in the enjoyment of happiness. But he censures severely the blindness and folly which men exhibit in the frowardness of their desires, and the vanity of their endeavors to obtain happiness; for while all men are seeking, and eagerly intent upon acquiring what is for their profit, there will be found scarcely one in a hundred who studies to purchase peace, and a quiet and desirable state of life, by just and equitable means. The prophet therefore admonishes his disciples, that nearly the whole world are deceived and led astray by their own folly, while they promise themselves a happy life from any other source than the divine blessing, which God bestows only upon the sincere and upright in heart. But there is in this exclamation still greater vehemence, the more effectually to awaken dull and drowsy minds to the course of this world; as if he had said, Since all men earnestly desire happiness, how comes it to pass, that scarcely any one sets himself to obtain it, and that every man, by his own fault, rather brings upon himself various troubles?
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv12, 16Seeing all men naturally desire felicity, he wondereth why…
Seeing all men naturally desire felicity, he wondereth why they cast themselves willingly into misery.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv12–16Psa 34:12 What man [is he that] desireth life,…
Psa 34:12 What man [is he that] desireth life, [and] loveth [many] days, that he may see good?
Ver. 12. What man is he that desireth life?] This is David’s doctrine; and to draw company about him, he proclaimeth and promiseth that which he well knew every man coveteth, happy life, many days, and a comfortable enjoyment of all. Now, who is it that would have these? saith he. Austin bringeth in all sorts, saying, Ego et ego, I would, and I would. But as all men desire health, but few take a right course to get it, and keep it; so all would be happy, but few hearken to this wholesome counsel, for the compassing of true happiness.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv12–16Desireth, to wit, seriously and in good earnest, so…
Desireth, to wit, seriously and in good earnest, so as to be willing to use any endeavours which shall be prescribed to him: for otherwise the question were needless; for there is no man but desires it, at least coldly and faintly.
Life; a long and happy life, begun in this world, and continued for ever in the next. And thus life is oft used, as Psa 16:11; 30:5.
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Loveth many days, that he may see good, Heb. loveth days to see (i.e. in which he may see, i.e. enjoy) good, to wit, prosperity or happiness.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv12–16What man is he that desireth life?.... Every man…
What man is he that desireth life?.... Every man desires life, even a natural life; it is more desirable than all things in it; especially an healthful life, without which the blessings and mercies of life cannot be comfortably enjoyed; and still more a life of prosperity; life, with an affluence of good things, and even a long one: though it may be rather that a spiritual life is here meant, and a comfortable one; a life free from the remorses of a guilty conscience, from the fear of hell, damnation, and wrath; from the bondage of the law, and the dread of death; a life of faith on Christ, and communion with him; and a life of sobriety, righteousness, and holiness; and perhaps it may be best of all to understand it of eternal life, which is life eminently and emphatically; it follows,
and loveth many days; that is, good ones; as they are interpreted in Pe1 3:10; not of this life, for the days of it are evil, and especially when they are lengthened out; the days of old age, Ecc 12:1; unless the days of the son of man, the days of enjoying the presence of God in his house and ordinances, should be intended; though rather the good and many days of eternity, even length of days, for ever and ever, in which will be fulness of joy, and never ceasing and never fading pleasures;
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that he may see good; there is good to be seen and enjoyed in this life, which if the saints did not believe they should see and enjoy, they would often faint; and this good lies in the participation of the blessings of grace, and in fellowship with Father, Son, and Spirit: but the great and lasting good to be seen and enjoyed is in the world to come, when God shall be all in all, be seen as he is, and the saints shall inherit all things.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv12, 13, 14, 16Life - A long and happy life, begun in…
Life - A long and happy life, begun in this world and continued forever in the next. Good - In which he may enjoy good, prosperity or happiness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn v12Verse 12. What man is he that desireth life]…
Verse 12. What man is he that desireth life] He who wishes to live long and to live happily, let him act according to the following directions. For a comment upon this and the four ensuing verses, see the notes on 1Pe 3:10-12.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv12, 13, 15Psa 34:12. What man is he that desireth life…
Psa 34:12. What man is he that desireth life — A long and happy life, begun in this world and continued for ever in the next: namely, who is he that seriously and in good earnest desires it, so as to be willing to use any endeavours which shall be prescribed to him? for otherwise the question would be needless, there being no man but desires it, at least, coldly and faintly. And loveth many days — Hebrew, loveth days to see, that is, in which he may see, or enjoy, good, namely, prosperity and happiness.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv12–16What man is he that desireth life? - That…
What man is he that desireth life? - That desires to live long. All people naturally love life; and all naturally desire to live long; and this desire, being founded in our nature, is not wrong. Life is, in itself, a good - a blessing to be desired; death is in itself an evil, and a thing to be dreaded, and there is nothing wrong, in itself, in such a dread. Equally proper is it to wish not to be cut down in early life; for where one has before him an eternity for which to prepare, he feels it undesirable that he should be cut off in the beginning of his way. The psalmist, therefore, does not put this question because he supposes that there were any who did not desire life, or did not wish to see many days, but in order to fix the attention on the inquiry, and to prepare the mind for the answer which was to follow. By thus putting the question, also, he has implicitly expressed the opinion that it is lawful to desire life, and to wish to see many days.
And loveth many days - literally, “loving days.” That is, who so loves days, considered as a part of life, that he wishes they may be prolonged and multiplied.
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That he may see good - That he may enjoy prosperity, or find happiness. In other words, who is he that would desire to understand the way by which life may be lengthened out to old age, and by which it may be made happy and prosperous? The psalmist proposes to answer this question - as he does in the following verses, by stating the results of what he had experienced and observed.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv12, 13, 15, 16What man--Whoever desires the blessings of piety, let him…
What man--Whoever desires the blessings of piety, let him attend.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv12, 1512-14. Contain instructions for useful and happy living: first…
12-14. Contain instructions for useful and happy living: first in the government of the tongue, and an honest and sincere habit of speech; secondly in the avoidance of evil, and the diligent pursuit of peace.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv12–1612. The challenge with its answer in Psa_34:13-14 is…
12. The challenge with its answer in Psa_34:13-14 is a vivid and forcible equivalent for Whosoever desires … let him &c. Cp. Psa_25:12.
life] Not mere existence, but life worthy of the name (Psa_16:11; Psa_30:5); again a word characteristic of Proverbs, and connected there too with the fear of the Lord (Pro_14:27; Pro_19:23; Pro_22:4).
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and loveth] Lit., loving days for seeing good, explaining and emphasising the preceding line. Cp. Psa_34:10; Psa_4:6. Days = length of days (Pro_3:2; Pro_10:27).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv12, 14, 15, 16(12) Desireth life.—Better, the man delighting in life. These…
(12) Desireth life.—Better, the man delighting in life. These gnomic sayings are echoes from the book of Proverbs. (See especially Pro_4:23.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv12–16What man is he that desireth life? Like most…
What man is he that desireth life? Like most moralists, David begins with asking men Do they wish for happiness? If so, and he assumes that it is so (comp. Arist., "Eth. Nic.," I 1-7), then he will point them out the way to it. And loveth many days, that he may see good? Mere life, mere length of days, would not suffice for men, would be no object of desire, unless it were assumed that the days would bring them "good in other words, that they would be happy days.
"Long life.
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We may learn here
I THAT THE DESIRE FOR LONG LIFE IS NATURAL TO MAN. There may be times, when, under the pressure of trial and weariness, we are ready to say, with Job," I would not live alway." But this is a temporary feeling. Our natural desire is to live, and to live long. This desire has been implanted by God, and works in many ways for good.
II THAT LONG LIFE, WHEN SPENT IN THE SERVICE OF GOD, IS A GREAT BLESSING. We should desire life, not from fear of death, nor from the pain of parting with dear friends, but "to see good," and that we may do the more work for God. The present world, so far as we know, is the only one in which we can serve God by overcoming evil, and by patience under trial, and by converting sinners. Besides, the longer we live, the more good we can do to others, and the more we can glorify God. To glorify God by the service of our youth is good; to glorify him by the service of youth and manhood is better; but to glorify him by faithful service from first to last, through all stages of life, is best of all. (Pro_16:21 Php_1:23-26 2Ti_4:6-8) How different is it with the wicked! Prolonged life is to them a curse instead of a blessing. The more time, the more sin; the more sin, the more evil; till at last it might be said, "Would that he died early!" or, as of Judas," It had been good for that man if he had not been born". (Mat_26:24)
III THAT LONG LIFE CAN BE BEST SECURED BY ATTENTION TO THE LAWS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. There is an intimate connection between the body and the soul. We may disregard the laws of health as to the body, and then we must suffer. The care of the body is as needful, in its place, as the care of the soul. The tendency of vice is undoubtedly to shorten life. How often does it happen, that young men, naturally possessed of good constitutions, bring on weakness and disease by dissolute living! On the other hand, the practice of self-denial and virtue is favourable to longevity. "The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened". (Pro_10:2-7) The question of the psalmist meets a response in our hearts, "What man is he that desireth life. and his wise and fatherly counsel should find an echo in our lives, "Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it." The laws of health are largely studied in our days. We have Acts of Parliament on "Public Health," and much is done to promote the physical comfort and health of the people. This is good. It is of much advantage that the people, down to the poorest, should have pure air and wholesome food and favourable surroundings, and it is the duty of the Church, as well as the state, to look to these things. But more is needed. There must be proper education of the people. They must be taught, not only the care of the body, but the care of the soul. The only complete education is that which embraces the whole man body and soul and spirit. We are only perfectly educated when we are taught of God, "that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world". (Tit_2:13) Longevity was not only a promise of the Old Testament, (Deu_4:40 Ecc_12:13) but it is a promise of the latter-day glory. W.F. (Isa_65:20)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv12–16Ver. 12. Life spent in happiness is the desire…
Ver. 12. Life spent in happiness is the desire of all, and he who can give the young a receipt for leading a happy life deserves to be popular among them. Mere existence is not life; the art of living, truly, really, and joyfully living, it is not given to all men to know. To teach men how to live and how to die, is the aim of all useful religious instruction. The rewards of virtue are the baits with which the young are to be drawn to morality. While we teach piety to God we should also dwell much upon morality towards man.
Ver. 12. It is no great matter to live long, or always, but to live happily. That loyal prayer, "Let the king live" (in every language) imports a prosperous state. When the psalmist saith, "Who is the man that would see life?" he explains himself presently after by "good days." Vivere among the Latins is sometimes as much as valere, to live is as much as to be well; and upon this account it is that, on the one hand, the Scripture calls the state of the damned an eternal death, because their life is only a continuance in misery; so on the other hand the state of the blessed is an eternal life, because it is a perpetual abode in felicity. Nathanael Hardy.
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Ver. 12. The benefit of life is not in the length, but in the use of it. He sometimes lives the least that lives the longest. Seneca.
Ver. 12-14. How to make the best of both worlds.
Psalms 34:13*
Ver. 12-14. How to make the best of both worlds.
Ver. 12-14. How to make the best of both worlds.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv12, 15What man is he that desireth life, and loveth…
Psa_34:12
What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
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The happiness of life
Why is it we see man on all sides wearying himself in the effort to obtain this and that? It can only be because they imagine that these things will make them happy. But will they? Not so. Most men are hewing out cisterns, broken cisterns, which will field no water. The sad thing is, that men never seem to realize the accumulated experience of others. How many a man has made a lifelong trouble for himself by taking true for false, and false for true! There are small ambitions, remember, as well as large ones. A clerk or a labourer may be as ambitious, everybody may be as ambitious in his sphere, as a statesman or an author in his. I say nothing of meannesses to which men must often submit if they engage in that struggle; I say nothing of the free conscience sold, of the noble independence sacrificed, of the voice of protest silenced; nothing of the fact that fame, if it be anything like fame, will raise many a pang of envy in the breasts of others; I say nothing of the inevitable disappointment, of the disenchantments of fruition; nothing of the cup of success dashed away by death or by change at the very moment that our lips seem to touch it; the very best, and even the very best circumstances, the end gained, can give no real, no deep, no lasting satisfaction. But perhaps you belong to that much larger number of sensible, practical persons who do not think much of the empty bubbles of rank and fame; they want wealth, and what wealth brings. Now if the love of money were not a disease, if it were not the fruitful mother of vices, if it were not difficult for the rich man to be humble and heavenly, if the desire to gain were not a scourge, would Christ have said, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, etc.? There is a tribe of North-American Indians who are said to eat clay: I declare to you they seem to me to do no more for the body than the slaves of wealth in Britain do for the hungry soul, If there is no danger in wealth, or rather in the love of wealth, and the exaltation of wealth, would St. Paul have said, They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition? There is only one kind of wealth which has or can have true happiness. It is a wealth far less plentiful than gold; it is the treasure, not of earth, but laid up in heaven,--the wealth which is spent in works of mercy and forethought, and the wealth which is increased by the limitation of reigning desires. And, lastly, are there none of you, especially among young men and young women, who fancy that happiness is to be found neither in rank, nor in wealth, but in the thing they call pleasure? What voices of the dead shall I invoke to describe the emptiness of selfish desire? Shall it be his, the glass of fashion and the mould of form of the last century, Lord Chesterfield? He says, I have enjoyed all the pleasures of the world, and consequently know their value; but I by no means desire to repeat that nauseous potion for the sake of a fugitive dream. Or shall it be his, the great lyric poet, Heinrich Heine, who in the last eight years of his lingering life, I am, he writes, no longer brave, smiling, cheerful; I am only a poor death-sick and shadowy image of trouble--an unhappy man? Enough: there is and can be no happiness in these things--ambition, money, unlawful pleasure. They are vanity; not only, alas, a mere vacuum, but a plenum of misery and wrong; not waterless clouds, but clouds that rain mildew; not empty cisterns, but cisterns full of poison and bitterness. If we want happiness at all, we must seek it everywhere, and everywhere it is of the heart. (Dean Farrar.)
Life
I. life is a serious thing. Many do not take it seriously. Their great object is to get through it pleasurably. They glide along the stream of time into the ocean of eternity without ever having realized that life is real, life is earnest. It is a serious thing because--
1. It is the preparation-time for eternity. The time to seek and find in Christ the salvation of our souls.
2. It is the believers working-time for God.
3. It is a time of conflict with evil.
II. life is also a source of joy. Seriousness and joy are not incompatible, It is a serious thing to have the charge of a young life. Is it any the less a source of joy to have that precious charge committed to one? Life is a source of joy because--
1. God gives us innumerable blessings.
2. If we live it well it is a time of success. Even in this world God ever rewards His toilers with a sense of His presence and favour, and He often grants them true success.
3. Even here we may be conquerors in the conflict with evil through Him who loved us. (H. P. Wright, B. A.)
The way to a happy life
I. To bridle the tongue. Innumerable evils grow from this root of bitterness.
1. Perjury.
2. Slander and calumny; the inventing evil things of men, and falsely imputing them to them; this injurious practice to others is apt to provoke the like usage from them again.
II. To depart from evil, and do good.
1. The practice of virtue and religion is the natural cause of happiness. What can more highly conduce to the health of a mans body, to the vigour and activity of his mind, to the improving of his estate, to the flourishing of his reputation, to the honour and safeguard of his whole life, than this, his departing from evil and doing good? Virtue seldom fails of its reward in this world.
2. The practice of virtue and religion never fails to obtain the patronage and protection of Divine providence. Righteousness is the image of God; true goodness, wheresoever it is, is a beam derived from that fountain of light, which God cannot choose, if He loves Himself, but cherish and bless with a peculiar favour.
III. To seek peace, and pursue it.
1. What is to be done by us in order to peace?
(1) A quiet and peaceable subjection to that government we live under.
(2) That every man keep in that place and station Divine providence hath set him, and not venture to act out of his own sphere. Did every under-mariner in a storm leave the pump and his own particular charge to instruct the pilot, or every common soldier in time of battle quit his post to instruct his captain, what tumults and confusions would this breed!
(3) A constant and conscientious adhering to the Church.
(4) That laying aside all pride and passion and self-interest, we pursue after truth with purity and simplicity of intention.
(5) That we bear with one anothers weaknesses and infirmities (Col_3:13). Human nature is indispensably subject to blindness, impatience and levity, mightily prone to mistake and mis-behaviour; the nature of a mans soul is as far from infallibility as the constitution of his body is from immortality, and we can no more hope in all cases to be free from error and mistake, than we can at all times to be exempted from sickness and death. Now how reasonable is it that they should forgive, who so often themselves stand in need of forgiveness!
(6) That we pray for peace. The lusts and passions of men are by the psalmist compared to the raging waves of the sea, and the same almighty Power that sets bounds to the one, must also quiet and restrain the other.
2. How great a blessing peace is, and how highly it tends to make our days many and good.
(1) As it whets and excites diligence and industry in mens several callings, by giving them hopes of success in them.
(2) As it gives men security in the enjoyment of their estates and possessions; in times of popular tumults the fears of losing what a man has creates him more trouble than the enjoyment gives him content.
(3) As it affords the fittest opportunity for the practice of religion and virtue, and so conduces to the happiness of the future state as well as of this. (S. Freeman, M. A.)
The elixir of life
Rosenmuller, the celebrated sacred critic, quotes the following instructive anecdote from the book of Mussar:--A certain person, travelling through the city, continually called out, Who wants the elixir of life? The daughter of Rabbi Joda heard him, and told her father, who bade her call the man in. When the man entered, the Rabbi asked, What is the elixir of life which thou sellest? He answered, Is it not written, What man is he that loveth life, and desireth to see good days? let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile. This is the elixir of life, and is found in the mouth of man. The hero of this anecdote wisely says, This is the elixir of life. The government of the tongue--consisting, of course, in a proper regulation of the passions--will do more both to sweeten life and to lengthen it, than all the medicines in the world. The tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison; it setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. Most of the wars which desolate the earth, most of the tumults which afflict society, and many of the excitements which produce anxiety, sleeplessness, fever, and multitudinous disease, arise from rash, false, or malicious speaking. None but a Christian has this elixir,--no soul, but such as has been created anew in Christ Jesus, can enchain the malignant passions, making them captive under a reign of holy love, and pour a balm of honeyed words into the wounds of his own or his neighbours miseries. The tongue can no man tame. God alone can achieve the deed. Whoever would find the elixir of life, must seek it in that Heavenly Physicians laboratory, who healeth all our diseases, who satisfieth our mouth with good things, and who reneweth our youth like the eagles.
Keep thy tongue from evil.--
Keeping the tongue from evil
1. There are different ways of sinning with the tongue. Our words may be--
(1) Exaggerated. It is easy to make light of the common expressions, terrible, awful, and the like; but they are on the road to sin, and betray a tendency to make more of things than they deserve, which is at bottom self-conceit.
(2) Insincere. Saying pleasant things without meaning them--the wrong and sinful side of politeness.
(3) Malicious. Speaking falsely about a person so as to hurt him.
(4) Profane. The use of vulgar and blasphemous words which young people adopt as a sign of manly independence. And that often goes further, and becomes filthy and immoral.
2. The tongue may be kept:
(1) By keeping the heart right.
(2) By persistent effort to break a bad habit.
(3) By the choice of good friends.
(4) By prayer. (G. M. Mackie, M. A.)
Keeping guard over ones words
The Chinese have a proverb we shall do well to remember: A word rashly spoken cannot be brought back by a chariot and four horses. The Hindoos have a similar one: Of thy unspoken word thou art master, thy spoken word is master of thee; and many a heartache is caused in this world of ours by the passionate utterance of the hasty and the unkind word. Let us remember the adage trite and true: Speech is silvern, silence is golden; and, if we cannot speak gently, let us try not to speak at all.
Seek peace, and pursue it.--
The pursuit of peace
The more a man advances in piety the more his inward tranquillity ought to increase. The day grows calmer as the sun draws near its setting. (J. W. Alexander.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv12, 15What man is there who desires life and loves…
What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?
The implicit answer to this question is "every man." This rhetorical question can be translated as a statement. AT: "Every man desires life and desires to live many days and have a good life" (See: Rhetorical Question)
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keep your tongue from evil ... keep your lips from speaking lies
These two phrases refer to the same thing and it is said in different ways to emphasize its importance. (See: Parallelism)
Then keep your tongue from evil
Here "tongue" refers to the whole person. AT: "Therefore, do not speak evil" (See: Synecdoche)
keep your lips from speaking lies
Here "lips" refers to the person speaking. AT: "do not speak lies" (See: Synecdoche)
Turn away from evil
Here "Turn away" is a metaphor for avoiding evil. AT: "Refuse to do evil" (See: Metaphor)
Seek peace
Here "seek" means to be concerned about peace. AT: "Try hard to live in peace with other people" (See: Metaphor)
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv12–15 12. Who is the man who desireth life? The…
12. Who is the man who desireth life? The prophet does not inquire if there be any man so disposed, as if all men voluntarily brought upon themselves the miseries which befall them; for we know that all men without exception desire to live in the enjoyment of happiness. But he censures severely the blindness and folly which men exhibit in the frowardness of their desires, and the vanity of their endeavors to obtain happiness; for while all men are seeking, and eagerly intent upon acquiring what is for their profit, there will be found scarcely one in a hundred who studies to purchase peace, and a quiet and desirable state of life, by just and equitable means. The prophet therefore admonishes his disciples, that nearly the whole world are deceived and led astray by their own folly, while they promise themselves a happy life from any other source than the divine blessing, which God bestows only upon the sincere and upright in heart. But there is in this exclamation still greater vehemence, the more effectually to awaken dull and drowsy minds to the course of this world; as if he had said, Since all men earnestly desire happiness, how comes it to pass, that scarcely any one sets himself to obtain it, and that every man, by his own fault, rather brings upon himself various troubles?
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv12, 16 Seeing all men naturally desire felicity, he wondereth why…
Seeing all men naturally desire felicity, he wondereth why they cast themselves willingly into misery.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Psa 34:12 What man [is he that] desireth life,…
Psa 34:12 What man [is he that] desireth life, [and] loveth [many] days, that he may see good?
Ver. 12. What man is he that desireth life?] This is David’s doctrine; and to draw company about him, he proclaimeth and promiseth that which he well knew every man coveteth, happy life, many days, and a comfortable enjoyment of all. Now, who is it that would have these? saith he. Austin bringeth in all sorts, saying, Ego et ego, I would, and I would. But as all men desire health, but few take a right course to get it, and keep it; so all would be happy, but few hearken to this wholesome counsel, for the compassing of true happiness.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Desireth, to wit, seriously and in good earnest, so…
Desireth, to wit, seriously and in good earnest, so as to be willing to use any endeavours which shall be prescribed to him: for otherwise the question were needless; for there is no man but desires it, at least coldly and faintly.
Life; a long and happy life, begun in this world, and continued for ever in the next. And thus life is oft used, as Psa 16:11; 30:5.
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Loveth many days, that he may see good, Heb. loveth days to see (i.e. in which he may see, i.e. enjoy) good, to wit, prosperity or happiness.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv12–16 What man is he that desireth life?.... Every man…
What man is he that desireth life?.... Every man desires life, even a natural life; it is more desirable than all things in it; especially an healthful life, without which the blessings and mercies of life cannot be comfortably enjoyed; and still more a life of prosperity; life, with an affluence of good things, and even a long one: though it may be rather that a spiritual life is here meant, and a comfortable one; a life free from the remorses of a guilty conscience, from the fear of hell, damnation, and wrath; from the bondage of the law, and the dread of death; a life of faith on Christ, and communion with him; and a life of sobriety, righteousness, and holiness; and perhaps it may be best of all to understand it of eternal life, which is life eminently and emphatically; it follows,
and loveth many days; that is, good ones; as they are interpreted in Pe1 3:10; not of this life, for the days of it are evil, and especially when they are lengthened out; the days of old age, Ecc 12:1; unless the days of the son of man, the days of enjoying the presence of God in his house and ordinances, should be intended; though rather the good and many days of eternity, even length of days, for ever and ever, in which will be fulness of joy, and never ceasing and never fading pleasures;
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that he may see good; there is good to be seen and enjoyed in this life, which if the saints did not believe they should see and enjoy, they would often faint; and this good lies in the participation of the blessings of grace, and in fellowship with Father, Son, and Spirit: but the great and lasting good to be seen and enjoyed is in the world to come, when God shall be all in all, be seen as he is, and the saints shall inherit all things.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 14, 16 Life - A long and happy life, begun in…
Life - A long and happy life, begun in this world and continued forever in the next. Good - In which he may enjoy good, prosperity or happiness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v12 Verse 12. What man is he that desireth life]…
Verse 12. What man is he that desireth life] He who wishes to live long and to live happily, let him act according to the following directions. For a comment upon this and the four ensuing verses, see the notes on 1Pe 3:10-12.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15 Psa 34:12. What man is he that desireth life…
Psa 34:12. What man is he that desireth life — A long and happy life, begun in this world and continued for ever in the next: namely, who is he that seriously and in good earnest desires it, so as to be willing to use any endeavours which shall be prescribed to him? for otherwise the question would be needless, there being no man but desires it, at least, coldly and faintly. And loveth many days — Hebrew, loveth days to see, that is, in which he may see, or enjoy, good, namely, prosperity and happiness.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv12–16 What man is he that desireth life? - That…
What man is he that desireth life? - That desires to live long. All people naturally love life; and all naturally desire to live long; and this desire, being founded in our nature, is not wrong. Life is, in itself, a good - a blessing to be desired; death is in itself an evil, and a thing to be dreaded, and there is nothing wrong, in itself, in such a dread. Equally proper is it to wish not to be cut down in early life; for where one has before him an eternity for which to prepare, he feels it undesirable that he should be cut off in the beginning of his way. The psalmist, therefore, does not put this question because he supposes that there were any who did not desire life, or did not wish to see many days, but in order to fix the attention on the inquiry, and to prepare the mind for the answer which was to follow. By thus putting the question, also, he has implicitly expressed the opinion that it is lawful to desire life, and to wish to see many days.
And loveth many days - literally, “loving days.” That is, who so loves days, considered as a part of life, that he wishes they may be prolonged and multiplied.
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That he may see good - That he may enjoy prosperity, or find happiness. In other words, who is he that would desire to understand the way by which life may be lengthened out to old age, and by which it may be made happy and prosperous? The psalmist proposes to answer this question - as he does in the following verses, by stating the results of what he had experienced and observed.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15, 16 What man--Whoever desires the blessings of piety, let him…
What man--Whoever desires the blessings of piety, let him attend.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv12, 15 12-14. Contain instructions for useful and happy living: first…
12-14. Contain instructions for useful and happy living: first in the government of the tongue, and an honest and sincere habit of speech; secondly in the avoidance of evil, and the diligent pursuit of peace.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv12–16 12. The challenge with its answer in Psa_34:13-14 is…
12. The challenge with its answer in Psa_34:13-14 is a vivid and forcible equivalent for Whosoever desires … let him &c. Cp. Psa_25:12.
life] Not mere existence, but life worthy of the name (Psa_16:11; Psa_30:5); again a word characteristic of Proverbs, and connected there too with the fear of the Lord (Pro_14:27; Pro_19:23; Pro_22:4).
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and loveth] Lit., loving days for seeing good, explaining and emphasising the preceding line. Cp. Psa_34:10; Psa_4:6. Days = length of days (Pro_3:2; Pro_10:27).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv12, 14, 15, 16 (12) Desireth life.—Better, the man delighting in life. These…
(12) Desireth life.—Better, the man delighting in life. These gnomic sayings are echoes from the book of Proverbs. (See especially Pro_4:23.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv12–16 What man is he that desireth life? Like most…
What man is he that desireth life? Like most moralists, David begins with asking men Do they wish for happiness? If so, and he assumes that it is so (comp. Arist., "Eth. Nic.," I 1-7), then he will point them out the way to it. And loveth many days, that he may see good? Mere life, mere length of days, would not suffice for men, would be no object of desire, unless it were assumed that the days would bring them "good in other words, that they would be happy days.
"Long life.
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We may learn here
I THAT THE DESIRE FOR LONG LIFE IS NATURAL TO MAN. There may be times, when, under the pressure of trial and weariness, we are ready to say, with Job," I would not live alway." But this is a temporary feeling. Our natural desire is to live, and to live long. This desire has been implanted by God, and works in many ways for good.
II THAT LONG LIFE, WHEN SPENT IN THE SERVICE OF GOD, IS A GREAT BLESSING. We should desire life, not from fear of death, nor from the pain of parting with dear friends, but "to see good," and that we may do the more work for God. The present world, so far as we know, is the only one in which we can serve God by overcoming evil, and by patience under trial, and by converting sinners. Besides, the longer we live, the more good we can do to others, and the more we can glorify God. To glorify God by the service of our youth is good; to glorify him by the service of youth and manhood is better; but to glorify him by faithful service from first to last, through all stages of life, is best of all. (Pro_16:21 Php_1:23-26 2Ti_4:6-8) How different is it with the wicked! Prolonged life is to them a curse instead of a blessing. The more time, the more sin; the more sin, the more evil; till at last it might be said, "Would that he died early!" or, as of Judas," It had been good for that man if he had not been born". (Mat_26:24)
III THAT LONG LIFE CAN BE BEST SECURED BY ATTENTION TO THE LAWS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. There is an intimate connection between the body and the soul. We may disregard the laws of health as to the body, and then we must suffer. The care of the body is as needful, in its place, as the care of the soul. The tendency of vice is undoubtedly to shorten life. How often does it happen, that young men, naturally possessed of good constitutions, bring on weakness and disease by dissolute living! On the other hand, the practice of self-denial and virtue is favourable to longevity. "The fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened". (Pro_10:2-7) The question of the psalmist meets a response in our hearts, "What man is he that desireth life. and his wise and fatherly counsel should find an echo in our lives, "Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it." The laws of health are largely studied in our days. We have Acts of Parliament on "Public Health," and much is done to promote the physical comfort and health of the people. This is good. It is of much advantage that the people, down to the poorest, should have pure air and wholesome food and favourable surroundings, and it is the duty of the Church, as well as the state, to look to these things. But more is needed. There must be proper education of the people. They must be taught, not only the care of the body, but the care of the soul. The only complete education is that which embraces the whole man body and soul and spirit. We are only perfectly educated when we are taught of God, "that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world". (Tit_2:13) Longevity was not only a promise of the Old Testament, (Deu_4:40 Ecc_12:13) but it is a promise of the latter-day glory. W.F. (Isa_65:20)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv12–16 Ver. 12. Life spent in happiness is the desire…
Ver. 12. Life spent in happiness is the desire of all, and he who can give the young a receipt for leading a happy life deserves to be popular among them. Mere existence is not life; the art of living, truly, really, and joyfully living, it is not given to all men to know. To teach men how to live and how to die, is the aim of all useful religious instruction. The rewards of virtue are the baits with which the young are to be drawn to morality. While we teach piety to God we should also dwell much upon morality towards man.
Ver. 12. It is no great matter to live long, or always, but to live happily. That loyal prayer, "Let the king live" (in every language) imports a prosperous state. When the psalmist saith, "Who is the man that would see life?" he explains himself presently after by "good days." Vivere among the Latins is sometimes as much as valere, to live is as much as to be well; and upon this account it is that, on the one hand, the Scripture calls the state of the damned an eternal death, because their life is only a continuance in misery; so on the other hand the state of the blessed is an eternal life, because it is a perpetual abode in felicity. Nathanael Hardy.
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Ver. 12. The benefit of life is not in the length, but in the use of it. He sometimes lives the least that lives the longest. Seneca.
Ver. 12-14. How to make the best of both worlds.
Psalms 34:13*
Ver. 12-14. How to make the best of both worlds.
Ver. 12-14. How to make the best of both worlds.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv12, 15 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth…
Psa_34:12
What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
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The happiness of life
Why is it we see man on all sides wearying himself in the effort to obtain this and that? It can only be because they imagine that these things will make them happy. But will they? Not so. Most men are hewing out cisterns, broken cisterns, which will field no water. The sad thing is, that men never seem to realize the accumulated experience of others. How many a man has made a lifelong trouble for himself by taking true for false, and false for true! There are small ambitions, remember, as well as large ones. A clerk or a labourer may be as ambitious, everybody may be as ambitious in his sphere, as a statesman or an author in his. I say nothing of meannesses to which men must often submit if they engage in that struggle; I say nothing of the free conscience sold, of the noble independence sacrificed, of the voice of protest silenced; nothing of the fact that fame, if it be anything like fame, will raise many a pang of envy in the breasts of others; I say nothing of the inevitable disappointment, of the disenchantments of fruition; nothing of the cup of success dashed away by death or by change at the very moment that our lips seem to touch it; the very best, and even the very best circumstances, the end gained, can give no real, no deep, no lasting satisfaction. But perhaps you belong to that much larger number of sensible, practical persons who do not think much of the empty bubbles of rank and fame; they want wealth, and what wealth brings. Now if the love of money were not a disease, if it were not the fruitful mother of vices, if it were not difficult for the rich man to be humble and heavenly, if the desire to gain were not a scourge, would Christ have said, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, etc.? There is a tribe of North-American Indians who are said to eat clay: I declare to you they seem to me to do no more for the body than the slaves of wealth in Britain do for the hungry soul, If there is no danger in wealth, or rather in the love of wealth, and the exaltation of wealth, would St. Paul have said, They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition? There is only one kind of wealth which has or can have true happiness. It is a wealth far less plentiful than gold; it is the treasure, not of earth, but laid up in heaven,--the wealth which is spent in works of mercy and forethought, and the wealth which is increased by the limitation of reigning desires. And, lastly, are there none of you, especially among young men and young women, who fancy that happiness is to be found neither in rank, nor in wealth, but in the thing they call pleasure? What voices of the dead shall I invoke to describe the emptiness of selfish desire? Shall it be his, the glass of fashion and the mould of form of the last century, Lord Chesterfield? He says, I have enjoyed all the pleasures of the world, and consequently know their value; but I by no means desire to repeat that nauseous potion for the sake of a fugitive dream. Or shall it be his, the great lyric poet, Heinrich Heine, who in the last eight years of his lingering life, I am, he writes, no longer brave, smiling, cheerful; I am only a poor death-sick and shadowy image of trouble--an unhappy man? Enough: there is and can be no happiness in these things--ambition, money, unlawful pleasure. They are vanity; not only, alas, a mere vacuum, but a plenum of misery and wrong; not waterless clouds, but clouds that rain mildew; not empty cisterns, but cisterns full of poison and bitterness. If we want happiness at all, we must seek it everywhere, and everywhere it is of the heart. (Dean Farrar.)
Life
I. life is a serious thing. Many do not take it seriously. Their great object is to get through it pleasurably. They glide along the stream of time into the ocean of eternity without ever having realized that life is real, life is earnest. It is a serious thing because--
1. It is the preparation-time for eternity. The time to seek and find in Christ the salvation of our souls.
2. It is the believers working-time for God.
3. It is a time of conflict with evil.
II. life is also a source of joy. Seriousness and joy are not incompatible, It is a serious thing to have the charge of a young life. Is it any the less a source of joy to have that precious charge committed to one? Life is a source of joy because--
1. God gives us innumerable blessings.
2. If we live it well it is a time of success. Even in this world God ever rewards His toilers with a sense of His presence and favour, and He often grants them true success.
3. Even here we may be conquerors in the conflict with evil through Him who loved us. (H. P. Wright, B. A.)
The way to a happy life
I. To bridle the tongue. Innumerable evils grow from this root of bitterness.
1. Perjury.
2. Slander and calumny; the inventing evil things of men, and falsely imputing them to them; this injurious practice to others is apt to provoke the like usage from them again.
II. To depart from evil, and do good.
1. The practice of virtue and religion is the natural cause of happiness. What can more highly conduce to the health of a mans body, to the vigour and activity of his mind, to the improving of his estate, to the flourishing of his reputation, to the honour and safeguard of his whole life, than this, his departing from evil and doing good? Virtue seldom fails of its reward in this world.
2. The practice of virtue and religion never fails to obtain the patronage and protection of Divine providence. Righteousness is the image of God; true goodness, wheresoever it is, is a beam derived from that fountain of light, which God cannot choose, if He loves Himself, but cherish and bless with a peculiar favour.
III. To seek peace, and pursue it.
1. What is to be done by us in order to peace?
(1) A quiet and peaceable subjection to that government we live under.
(2) That every man keep in that place and station Divine providence hath set him, and not venture to act out of his own sphere. Did every under-mariner in a storm leave the pump and his own particular charge to instruct the pilot, or every common soldier in time of battle quit his post to instruct his captain, what tumults and confusions would this breed!
(3) A constant and conscientious adhering to the Church.
(4) That laying aside all pride and passion and self-interest, we pursue after truth with purity and simplicity of intention.
(5) That we bear with one anothers weaknesses and infirmities (Col_3:13). Human nature is indispensably subject to blindness, impatience and levity, mightily prone to mistake and mis-behaviour; the nature of a mans soul is as far from infallibility as the constitution of his body is from immortality, and we can no more hope in all cases to be free from error and mistake, than we can at all times to be exempted from sickness and death. Now how reasonable is it that they should forgive, who so often themselves stand in need of forgiveness!
(6) That we pray for peace. The lusts and passions of men are by the psalmist compared to the raging waves of the sea, and the same almighty Power that sets bounds to the one, must also quiet and restrain the other.
2. How great a blessing peace is, and how highly it tends to make our days many and good.
(1) As it whets and excites diligence and industry in mens several callings, by giving them hopes of success in them.
(2) As it gives men security in the enjoyment of their estates and possessions; in times of popular tumults the fears of losing what a man has creates him more trouble than the enjoyment gives him content.
(3) As it affords the fittest opportunity for the practice of religion and virtue, and so conduces to the happiness of the future state as well as of this. (S. Freeman, M. A.)
The elixir of life
Rosenmuller, the celebrated sacred critic, quotes the following instructive anecdote from the book of Mussar:--A certain person, travelling through the city, continually called out, Who wants the elixir of life? The daughter of Rabbi Joda heard him, and told her father, who bade her call the man in. When the man entered, the Rabbi asked, What is the elixir of life which thou sellest? He answered, Is it not written, What man is he that loveth life, and desireth to see good days? let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile. This is the elixir of life, and is found in the mouth of man. The hero of this anecdote wisely says, This is the elixir of life. The government of the tongue--consisting, of course, in a proper regulation of the passions--will do more both to sweeten life and to lengthen it, than all the medicines in the world. The tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison; it setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. Most of the wars which desolate the earth, most of the tumults which afflict society, and many of the excitements which produce anxiety, sleeplessness, fever, and multitudinous disease, arise from rash, false, or malicious speaking. None but a Christian has this elixir,--no soul, but such as has been created anew in Christ Jesus, can enchain the malignant passions, making them captive under a reign of holy love, and pour a balm of honeyed words into the wounds of his own or his neighbours miseries. The tongue can no man tame. God alone can achieve the deed. Whoever would find the elixir of life, must seek it in that Heavenly Physicians laboratory, who healeth all our diseases, who satisfieth our mouth with good things, and who reneweth our youth like the eagles.
Keep thy tongue from evil.--
Keeping the tongue from evil
1. There are different ways of sinning with the tongue. Our words may be--
(1) Exaggerated. It is easy to make light of the common expressions, terrible, awful, and the like; but they are on the road to sin, and betray a tendency to make more of things than they deserve, which is at bottom self-conceit.
(2) Insincere. Saying pleasant things without meaning them--the wrong and sinful side of politeness.
(3) Malicious. Speaking falsely about a person so as to hurt him.
(4) Profane. The use of vulgar and blasphemous words which young people adopt as a sign of manly independence. And that often goes further, and becomes filthy and immoral.
2. The tongue may be kept:
(1) By keeping the heart right.
(2) By persistent effort to break a bad habit.
(3) By the choice of good friends.
(4) By prayer. (G. M. Mackie, M. A.)
Keeping guard over ones words
The Chinese have a proverb we shall do well to remember: A word rashly spoken cannot be brought back by a chariot and four horses. The Hindoos have a similar one: Of thy unspoken word thou art master, thy spoken word is master of thee; and many a heartache is caused in this world of ours by the passionate utterance of the hasty and the unkind word. Let us remember the adage trite and true: Speech is silvern, silence is golden; and, if we cannot speak gently, let us try not to speak at all.
Seek peace, and pursue it.--
The pursuit of peace
The more a man advances in piety the more his inward tranquillity ought to increase. The day grows calmer as the sun draws near its setting. (J. W. Alexander.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12, 15 What man is there who desires life and loves…
What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?
The implicit answer to this question is "every man." This rhetorical question can be translated as a statement. AT: "Every man desires life and desires to live many days and have a good life" (See: Rhetorical Question)
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keep your tongue from evil ... keep your lips from speaking lies
These two phrases refer to the same thing and it is said in different ways to emphasize its importance. (See: Parallelism)
Then keep your tongue from evil
Here "tongue" refers to the whole person. AT: "Therefore, do not speak evil" (See: Synecdoche)
keep your lips from speaking lies
Here "lips" refers to the person speaking. AT: "do not speak lies" (See: Synecdoche)
Turn away from evil
Here "Turn away" is a metaphor for avoiding evil. AT: "Refuse to do evil" (See: Metaphor)
Seek peace
Here "seek" means to be concerned about peace. AT: "Try hard to live in peace with other people" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
life
evil
turn
good
peace
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv12–15 34:12-16 Peter quotes this passage in his instructions for…
34:12-16 Peter quotes this passage in his instructions for peaceful living (1 Pet 3:10-12).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.